Defying orders, farmers start Paddy sowing ahead of official date

June 12, 2018 10:51 PM

Ferozepur, June 12, 2018: Openly defying the orders of the state agriculture department to starting paddy sowing from June 20, the situation became tense when Kulwant Singh farmer of village Bandala was stopped planting of paddy on 4 acres of land before the target date of June 20 fixed by the government.

The Punjab Government had issued the advisory to the farmers in Punjab not to transplant the paddy saplings before June 20 in order to save depleting water table in Punjab.

Giving information, District Block Officer, Dr. Surinder Pal Singh said when information about the farmer of Bandala village Kulwant Singh for sowing paddy before the date fixed by the government was received, the Agriculture Department arrived at village Bandala Wala and stopped the paddy transplantation.

However, some farmers' organizations started to oppose it. According to Dr. Surinder Pal Singh, on seeing the tense situation, the police of Arif ke was informed and the padding of the field of Kulwant Singh in the presence of police was done.

BAO said the farmers of the area were put wiser to sow short-timer and low-water consumption paddy varieties in order to save depleting water table in Punjab.

Water guzzling paddy is expected to be sown in 30 lakh hectares in Punjab. Going by the fast-depleting underground water table state government has fixed June 20 to start paddy sowing. According to agriculture department officials, 1 acre of paddy consumes 60 lakh litres of water until it matures and 1kg paddy uses 2,500 litres of water.